How to Tell If Your Doctor Has a Problem with Addiction

According to a recent study by the Federation of State Physician Health Programs, one percent of all physicians practicing in the United States are currently in treatment for alcohol and drug abuse. These are the physicians who realize they have a problem and are willing to get treatment. The number of untreated alcoholic or drug-abusing doctors could be ten times that figure. Physicians under the influence of either drugs or alcohol have been responsible for dozens of botched procedures and misdiagnoses. The image of Dr. House popping pills as he spews increasingly brilliant diagnoses is a fantasy and not indicative of the level of impairment experienced by addicted doctors.

How can you tell if your doctor has an addiction problem?

Can you smell alcohol on his or her breath?

Doctors should never have imbibed alcohol recently enough to still have the smell on their breath. If you smell alcohol on your doctor's breath, excuse yourself and make an appointment with a different doctor.

Do your doctor's hands shake?

Tremors in the hands could represent withdrawal symptoms. You no more want a doctor going through the effects of withdrawal to treat you than you do an actively drinking one.

Do your doctor's moods swing wildly from one visit to another or during the same visit?

Drugs and alcohol are both mood alterers. With regular usage, the changes in mood become more erratic and unpredictable. If your doctor exhibits excessive sweating, nervous mannerisms, or sleepiness, these could be signs of alcohol or drugs.

Does your doctor make you repeat yourself frequently during conversations?

If your doctor is having a difficult time following the conversation, he or she is not focusing full attention to your issue. Alcohol abuse can lead to forgetfulness and lethargy.

Does your doctor frequently reschedule appointments?

A drug or alcohol addiction takes up the majority of an addict's life. He or she schedules all of their other obligations around the addiction. If you find that you get frequent telephone calls from your doctor's office to reschedule your appointment on short notice, this could be a sign of addiction. Of course, if you are seeing an ob/gyn, your doctor may simply be delivering a baby.

Does your doctor freely prescribe you narcotics without asking a battery of questions?

Prescribing narcotics like codeine and Valium without taking a full history or trying to find an alternate solution can be indicative of the doctor's own ease with narcotics.

None of these markers are in themselves proof of an alcohol or drug addiction problem. More than likely, you would experience two or three of these issues in order to determine whether your doctor has a problem or not. If you feel that there is indeed an addiction problem, immediately seek treatment of another doctor and discuss the issue with your local State Board so that your doctor will not have the opportunity to treat other patients while under the influence and so that your doctor can receive the treatment he or she needs. The phrase "physician, heal thyself" does not apply to addicts.

Sources:
http://www.fsphp.org/
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/drug_substance_abuse_addiction_signs_effects_treatment.htm